Buffalo a harbor for birds
96,341 acres get sanctuary label
The Buffalo National River is officially an Important Bird Area.
The announcement came Monday from the Arkansas Audubon Society.
The national park is home — for at least part of the year — to about 200 species of birds, including bald eagles, Northern bobwhites, cerulean warblers, Swainson’s warblers and Louisiana waterthrushes.
A global initiative of BirdLife International, implemented by Audubon and its partners in the United States, the Important Bird Areas Program is an effort to identify and conserve areas that are vital to birds and other biodiversity, according to Audubon Arkansas’ website, ar.audubon.org.
“Important Bird Areas are sites that provide essential habitat for breeding, wintering or migrating bird species,” said Dan Scheiman, bird conservation director for Audubon Arkansas. “Protecting these places gives us the greatest bang for our conservation buck.”
On Aug. 11, Audubon Arkansas’ board unanimously voted to accept the recommendation of the IBA Technical Committee to
recognize the site, Scheiman said. It was announced in a news release Monday.
The Buffalo National River became Arkansas’ 33rd Important Bird Area and the third-largest in the state.
The Buffalo National River Important Bird Area designation includes 96,341 acres. That’s larger than the park itself. It includes 140 acres of adjacent private property owned by Jack and Pam Stewart, who live near Jasper in Newton County.
Jack Stewart, a regional director for the National Audubon Society, said three sides of his property border the park. He’s been surveying the birds on his property for several years and has been working for the past two years on the Important Bird Area designation.
“There’s a lot of data that goes into establishing an IBA,” Stewart said. “It’s not just a token thing. It’s got to have science behind it. So we will continue the surveys. If and when we sell the property, we would be very careful who we sell it to.”
The state’s largest Important Bird Area is the Shugart/ Felsenthal Red-cockaded Woodpecker IBA in southeast Arkansas at 1,296,000 acres. The next largest is the Ozark National Forest at 1,056,752 acres.
Kevin Cheri, superintendent of the Buffalo National River, said the designation focuses attention on the role of national parks as laboratories for species diversity, which are barometers of environmental health and change.
The Buffalo National River connects lands owned by the Nature Conservancy, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and U.S. Forest Service, according to a news release from the national park.
“Taken as a whole, this public land provides the best opportunity to manage and protect a wide range of bird species, including many that are declining,” said Joe Neal, field trip chair of the Northwestern Arkansas Audubon Society and co-author of Arkansas Birds.
While many of Arkansas’ Important Bird Areas are located on public lands, some aren’t.
“The IBA program is not a regulatory initiative and places no restriction on land use or activities,” according to Audubon Arkansas’ website. “Audubon staff work with managers of IBAs to support bird and habitat monitoring, habitat management and education and advocacy efforts focused on birds. Audubon recognizes that IBAs are priority sites for long-term protection.”
The Buffalo National River — which runs through Newton, Searcy and Marion counties before merging with the White River in Baxter County — became the first national river in the United States on March 1, 1972. It is one of the few remaining free-flowing rivers in the lower 48 states.